Recent content by BaronVonBigmeat

Before moving on, let's be clear on why Krugman thinks the above chart is so damning to the goldbugs. By 1937, if you rank the nations' industrial output relative to 1929 levels, the order is Japan, Britain, Germany, the United States, and finally France. Now if you ask, In what order did...

I think this may be correct, granted I am just an armchair observer. The government has created quite a bit of money, around a trillion, most of it for the banks, who have it parked at the Fed apparently. It hasn't circulated yet, so there is no inflation to speak of. It has spooked foreign...

Here is a summary of the Popular Mechanics cost-per-mile comparison, if anyone is interested. Does anyone remember all the hype for a "hydrogen highway" just a few years ago? Like, as recently as 2003? That would have been the biggest boondoggle of all time, a colossal waste of not just...

Tell that to someone who escaped from hurricane Katrina in their car. I rarely use my spare tire, but when I need to use it...boy am I ever glad it's there. People can see that electrics let you get a per-mile cost that is equivalent to 70 cent per gallon gasoline, but stick with gassers (for...

There are better ways of explaining bank failures. Restrictive banking laws that prevented them from diversifying their portfolios, for example. Canada didn't have these laws and as a result didn't have a problem with bank failures. Come on now, honestly. There are plenty of reasons for...

Eh? Austrians would say that banking panics are a market response to unsound banking practices, ie excessive fractional reserve lending. So, how about that 1920 depression that lasted barely over a year? *whistles past the graveyard* edit: also why is it that the cost and supply of...

Allegedly. No one has seen a working prototype. No one who is talking, anyhow. If they can perform as claimed, for the price that's claimed...then yeah, you'll start seeing carmakers roll out electrics. With or without government incentives. B-b-but! Don't they know? Electric motors are...

Yes I realize that, but he didn't mention work capacity. Power: ft.lbs / second, or work per unit time. Work is a subset of power. If you are producing efficient power, you are working efficiently. Not really, it's quite concrete. Energy in vs. energy out. Nothing converts 100%, but...

No, we were talking about motors. You're moving the goalposts. You said that equivalent motors have to be bigger/heavier than a comparable engine, when the opposite is true. Tesla builds their own special design because it's a high end car and their customers are willing to spend extra for a...

Wow, debasing the currency lowers real incomes, which then means that businesses can hire more people? I wonder what Krugman's take is on the depression of 1921? The one that was as bad as the great depression, only it was over in 2 years without inflating the currency.

Macroeconomics isn't a true, hard science and never will be without a time machine. There are too many variables to run repeatable experiments.

Energy independence is dumb and will solve nothing. Apparently we want to stop giving money to people who hate us. But if Saudi Arabia were suddenly cut off from oil money for example, their pro-US government would collapse. Fundamentalists would take over. Some liberals (not all) would...

If something efficiently converts the potential energy stored in a battery (or a fuel tank) to mechanical power, then it is--by definition--working efficiently!

Inrush current only matters for a split second. I dunno what you're talking about with insulation loss. The bottom line is, the best IC engines cannot touch even a worn out motor for efficiency. Apples to apples. 100 hp versus 100 hp. If you can provide a source that says otherwise, go ahead...

Uhh...yes they most certainly are. Electric motors and IC engines have been around for over a century. Engineering organizations like ASME have lengthy and detailed specs which state exactly how stated efficiency is to be determined. They have been testing power producing devices since before...